On 25 June 1994, the 22:45 from

Wemyss Bay Wemyss Bay (; ) is a town on the coast of the Firth of Clyde in Inverclyde in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is in the traditional county of Renfrewshire. It is adjacent to Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire. The town and villages have always ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, derailed and smashed into a bridge after hitting

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

blocks placed deliberately on the railway by

vandals The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The ...

outside of where

Drumfrochar railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Drumfrochar1.jpg , caption = Drumfrochar station, looking west towards Wemyss Bay in October 2007 , borough = Greenock, Inverclyde , c ...

would be opened 4 years later. The train involved was a refurbished Class 303

Electric Multiple Unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

. The concrete blocks were cable-trough covers, which were placed across the rails of the single-track line by two vandals who had climbed down to the railway to urinate on their way home. The railway at this point is on a curve, going to the right as the train was travelling. The leading

bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...

of the EMU derailed and the train immediately collided with the solid structure of the overbridge, crushing the driver's cab, killing driver Arthur McKee, 35, and also killing passenger Alan Nicol, 21, who was seated immediately behind the cab, with his back to the partition. Alan Nicol had taken this location to reduce the risk of injury from broken glass should the train be stoned by vandals, which was a common occurrence in that area. Including the two trainstaff, the train was carrying six people. Following the

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

, many youths in the surrounding area were questioned by police regarding the incident. After a trial by the High Court, Gary Dougan and Craig Houston, two 17-year-olds from

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

were each imprisoned for 15 years for culpable homicide. Dougan and Houston launched an appeal against their convictions two years later. In September 1996, the Court of Appeal in Edinburgh upheld both convictions.

References

Sources

* Derailments in Scotland Transport in Inverclyde Railway accidents in 1994 1994 in Scotland Greenock Accidents and incidents involving Strathclyde Partnership for Transport June 1994 events in the United Kingdom Train wrecks caused by sabotage 1994 crimes in the United Kingdom July 1994 crimes {{Scotland-rail-transport-stub